Carton construction



Aprii 24, 1962 E. CORNISH CARTON CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 10, 1959 IN V EN TOR. 51714442217 ilJHNISH. V .4 TTZZHNEY.

United States Patent 3,031,126 CARTGN CGNSIRUCTIQN Edward Uornish, Waterville, Ohio (265 W. Sophia St, Maumee, ()hio) Filed Aug. It 1955*, Ser. No. 832,808 Claims. (Cl. 2Z9-52) This invention relates to containers such as cartons and particularly paper boxes such as pasteboard or boxboard containers and cartons.

Most containers and cartons are at the present day made of so-called boxboard or corrugated paper, even those of the returnable type which must make many trips from the source to the consumer to prove economical.

It is an object of the present invention to provide paper cartons or containers for shipping or transporting use so constructed as to be more resistant to hard usage and abuse and to achieve this without substantial additional cost thereby achieving a carton that will last considerably longer and make substantially more trips from the source to the consumer but which will be little, if any, more expensive, than conventional cartons.

It is a further object of the invention to achieve this improvement in shipping cartons or containers by simple changes in the construction without basically altering the general construction of the carton, which has been evolved over a series of years as the most satisfactory design.

It is a subsidiary object of the invention to achieve a shipping container or carton which may be more easily handled so as to make it possible to employ larger cartons or pack cartons with greater weight without undue inconvenience to or fatigue of the people handling the cartons.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a carton embodying the present invention, the same being partly broken away and partly in section to better show the construction thereof;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the same partly broken away taken on the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of certain components of the present invention shown prior to assembly with the main portion of the carton to better illustrate the invention;

FIGURE 4 is a like view of certain of the components shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an end elevational view of a part of the handle portion of the carton showing a modification of the present invention;

FIGURE 6 is a vertical sectional view of the same taken on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of a component of the modified form of the invention; and

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of still another component of the modified form of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, the invention provides a reinforcement of the handle section of a boxboard container or carton so as to adapt the carton to carry considerably heavier loads and to contribute to the length of life of the carton so as to make the use of returnable cartons more economical.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the carton it) may be of any conventional kind but is shown here as the kind of carton employed for transporting bottled beverages, frozen food packages, and other relatively heavy contents. Such cartons usually have hinged lid sections such as the lid sections 11 and 12 and have in the ends thereof openings 14 to serve as hand holds. The end of the carton may be constructed in a number of conventional ways, but in the present exemplification has the upper margin of ice each end of the carton folded over to form a lap 16 which by the doubling strengthens the upper edge of the end wall. The hand hold is formed preferably by cuttng out on three sides a tab 18 to make the opening 14 and then folding the cutout tab inwardly and upwardly over the folded down lap 16. The parts may be then stapled together by several rows of staples 21.

In the present invention, before the tab 18 cut from the hand hold opening is stapled to the end wall of the carton, a wire loop 23 preferably of polygonal shape and shown is approximately triangular shape is arranged with one of its sides at the inner side of the fold line of the tab so that when the tab is stapled in place one side of the loop is held inside the fold of the tab immediately adjacent the fold line thereof. The wire loop is preferably of such shape and size to substantially frame the hand hold opening 14 or at least not to extend across the opening in such way as to impair the effectiveness of the opening in permitting the handler of the carton to readily grasp the hand hold portion.

In the present exemplification of the invention, the wire loop is shown as being applied to the carton by taking advantage of the design of the construction of the carton for receiving one side of the wire loop between the folded over tab and the end wall of the carton. However, quite effectively the wire loop may be secured to cartons where there is no folded-in tab or where the folded-in tab is not adaptable to receive the wire lOOP-' In such a case one side of the wire loop may be laid against the end wall of the carton in alignment with the upper edge of the hand hold opening and a strip of paperboard, gummed paper, ordinary box stay tape or the like folded over the upper edge of the hand hold opening and the side of the wire loop to hold the loop in place adjacent the upper edge of the opening. It has been found much more effective, however, to incorporate where possible the loop directly into the carton construction as described above and as shown in the drawings.

In addition to securing the side of the loop adjacent the upper edge of the hand hold opening means are provided to secure the wire loop to the body of the carton so that when the carton is lifted and forces are applied to the upper edge of the hand opening and consequently to the wire loop, the loads will be distributed over a substan tial area of the carton and provide thus an effective increase in the resistance of the carton to such lifting forces.

In accordance with the invention, the wire loop is fastened to the end section of the carton by strips 2 5 of tape which are folded over the loop and then adhered to the end wall of the carton. As shown in FIGURE 1, the strips of tape extend to the lower edge of the carton so that forces applied to the loop are distributed over substantial areas of the end of the carton. It is also within the concept of the invention to extend the strips of tape along the bottom of the carton if found advantageous.

In order to provide in this structure sufficient strength to resist the concentrated heavy loads often to which the handle sections of the cartons are often subjected, it is preferred to employ pressure sensitive tape of the filament reinforced variety to secure the wire loops in place. Such tape is especially suited to holding the wire lop securely to the end face of the carton. The invention provides two layers of such pressure sensitive tape, disposed with the adhesive surfaces of both toward the inner surface of the end of the carton. Two pieces 26 and 2! of pressure sensitive tape are stuck together face to face and end to end with a small portion, say a fifth or a sixth of the lengths of the pieces of tape overlapping. This composite piece of tape is then threaded through the triangular loop 23 and folded over at approximately its mid-portion so that the two adhesive surfaces of the composite strip 25 of tape are both presented to the inside wall of the carton. The

i the carton surfaces.

In place of the composite strip of tape made up of two pieces as just described, a single piece of tape may be used. One end of the single piece for about one-fourth of its length is threaded through the wire loop and folded over adhesive face to adhesive face. This allows about threefourths of the adhesive face of the piece of tape to remain uncovered and available to be adhered to the surface of the end of the carton.

Preferably the wire loop is fastened to the end of the carton inside of the folded-in cutout section from the hand hold before the adhesive tape is threaded through the loop and adhered to the inside carton wall. This facilitates positioning of the triangular loop and assures that all parts are taut when the tape is secured in place.

-It will be seen from the construction described that when the carton is lifted by the hand hold, the upward thrust against the upper side of the hand hold is resisted by the triangular wire loop and the force thus applied is transmitted over a substantial area of the end of the carton. This effectively resists heavy loads and avoids the bulging out of the end of the carton and the tearing of the upper section of the hand hold so often resulting from prolonged use of such cartons.

Cartons such as those disclosed in the present invention are used quite frequently for transporting articles that fit closely within the carton to substantially fill it, for instance, packages of frozen foods. When a carton is thus loaded with frozen food the weight contained within the carton is substantial and the present construction of the carton end is quite effective for permitting the carton to be thus heavily loaded without damage to the carton when it is lifted and moved about.

Also, when cartons such as those disclosed herein are fully loaded with materials which. substantially fill the inside of the carton, it is often difiicult to lift the carton by the hand hold because there is insufiicient room at the inside of the carton for the fingers to reach in through the hand hold and get a firm grasp on the upper surface of the hand hold.

Within the concept of the present invention it is provided that a supplement handle 31 is provided which will cooperate with the reinforced hand hold opening and the reinforcing wire loop to facilitate lifting of the carton. This handle is preferably of sheet metal although it may be formed of fairly rigid strong plastic or other conventional material. The handle is of approximately rectangular or truncated triangular shape and one end is formed with a curled portion 32 adapted to fit over the upper edge of the hand hold. The other end of the handle is provided with a hand grasp 34 formed preferably by punching out a tab at that end of the handle and rolling in the punched out tab to form the rounded grasp. The open ing 36 left by the punched out tab permits the fingers to pass around the hand grasp.

This handle 31 is adapted to be placed on the carton whenever it is desired to lift the carton. It can be quickly slipped from the hand hold of one carton and applied to the next carton, so that it may be carried about by the people working in a warehouse or on a loading platform and used on carton after carton to lift the cartons and place them on a stack or other location,

Sometimes, however, cartons are handled quite frequently and many times before they are finally stacked or otherwise disposed of and it is conceived that the handle may be semipermanently attached to the end of the carton. This is done simply in the present case by providing a clip 41 formed to fit within the hand hold and clamp the handle 31 against the upper edge of the hand hold. This clip may be bent from sheet metal and is provided at one end with ,a rounded section 42 to fit the underside of the curled portion 32 at the lower end of the handle. At the other end the clip 41 has a U-shaped channel 43 which fits over the lower margin of the hand hold so as to be supported both vertically and laterally thereby. After the handle 31 is in place and it is desired to semi-permanently attach it, the lower channel end of the clip 41 is slid down over the lower margin of the hand hold and then the clip is moved inwardly to seat under the lower curved end of the handle. The upper end of the clip is shaped so that when the clip is moved inwardly to full extent the inner edge 46 of the upper rounded section 42 of the clip moves past the lowest point of the lower end of the handle so as in effect to snap over the lower end of the handle and be retained against accidental and unintentional outward movement. This quite effectively and securely holds the handle in place on the end of the carton so long as it is desired to keep it attached there.

I claim:

1. A carton construction comprising end walls, a hand hold opening in an end wall, a reinforcement element disposed adjacent the upper edge of the hand hold, and a strip of tape secured to said reinforcement element and adhered to the inner surface of the end of the carton, and extending from the area of the hand hold toward the bottom edge of the end wall and for a substantial distance over the end wall to transmit force exerted on the upper edge of said hand hold opening to substantial areas of said end wall.

2,. A carton construction comprising end walls, a hand hold opening in an end wall, a reinforcement in the form of a loop substantially framing said opening and having a portion adjacent the upper edge of said opening, and means for fastening said loop to the end wall including an elongated member secured to said loop and being adhered to the inner surface of the end of the carton and extending from the area of the hand hold toward the bottom edge of the end wall and for a substantial distance over the end wall to transmit force exerted on the upper edge of said hand hold opening to substantial areas of said end wall.

3. A carton construction comprising end walls, a hand hold opening in an end wall, a reinforcement in the form of a triangular loop disposed at the inside of each end wall and substantially framing said opening, said loop having one side disposed at the upper edge of the hand hold opening, and means secured at substantially the apex of said triangular loop opposite to said side thereof and fastened to the inner surface of the end of the carton and extending from the area of the hand hold toward the bottom edge of the end wall and for a substantial distance over the end wall to transmit force exerted on the upper edge of said hand hold opening to substantial areas of said end wall.

4. A carton construction comprising end walls, a substantially rectangular tab cut at three sides from each end wall and folded inwardly and away from the bottom of the carton to overlap a portion of the upper margin of the end wall, the opening left by the folded up tab being adapted to serve as a hand hold, a reinforcement element in the form of a loop disposed at the inside of each end wall and substantially framing said opening, said loop having one portion disposed at the inside of the fold line of said tab, a strip of tape threaded through said loop and folded over at the portion of said loop opposite to said portion, the folded over tape being adhered to the inner surface of the end of the carton and extending for a substantial distance thereover to transmit force exerted on the upper edge of said hand hold opening to substantial areas of said end wall.

5. A carton construction comprising end walls, a sub stantially rectangular tab cut at three sides from each end wall and folded inwardly and away from the bottom of the carton to overlap a portion of the upper margin of the end wall, the opening left by the folded up tab being adapted to serve as a hand hold, a reinforcement in the form of a triangular wire loop disposed at the inside of each end wall and substantially framing said opening, said loop having one side disposed at the inside of the fold line of said tab, a strip of pressure sensitive tape having adhesive surfaces on both sides thereof threaded through said wire loop and folded over at substantially the apex of said triangular wire loop opposite to said side, the folded over tape being adhered to the inner surface of the end of the carton and extending for a substantial distance thereover to transmit force exerted on the upper edge of said hand hold opening to substantial areas of said end walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,138,451 Holmes Nov. 29, 1938 2,179,981 Mooter et a1 Nov. 14, 1939 2,308,050 Burr Jan. 12, 1943 2,555,926 Hendrick June 5, 1951 2,611,530 George Sept. 23, 1952 2,771,235 Stephenson Nov. 20, 1956 

